Flip

Summary

One morning fourteen-year-old Alex wakes up to find himself in the wrong bedroom, in an unfamiliar house, in a different part of the country. Six months have disappeared overnight. The family at the breakfast table? Total strangers.

And when he looks in the mirror, another boy's face stares back. A boy named Philip, known as Flip. Unless Alex finds out what's happened and how to get back to his own life, he'll be trapped forever inside a body that belongs to someone else.

Martyn Bedford's debut novel for young adults is fearless and fast-paced, a riveting psychological thriller about a boy coming undone in the most extraordinary of circumstances.

Reviews

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.Quick & Dirty: A somewhat interesting premise of soul-switching makes for what might be a good read for a pre-teen audience, but the shallow plot and boring characters leaves this book lacking for an older audience.Opening Sentence: Alex couldn’t have said what woke him that morning.The Review:Flip only managed to be almost enjoyable, for me at least. There is a little more expectation perhaps with a really interesting premise, and I would like to say that was the only reason I came up disappointed, but there were several problematic elements in this book for me. The most obvious place to begin would be to mention that the pace was really slow. For what should have been a quick, interesting read, the plot just really dragged; there wasn’t enough to keep the pages turning. Flip might be intriguing for a younger pre-teen audience, but that in itself is sticky because of quite a bit of underage drinking being glorified throughout the book.As far as character development, Alex wasn’t quite believable for me. As a fourteen-year-old boy, you would assume he would most likely be ecstatic to be given a chance to live the life of the handsome, popular Flip, at least at first. Instead, he avoids Flip’s hot girlfriends and can’t stop thinking about his mom. When he does decide to enjoy his new life for one day, there hasn’t been enough leading up to that point to make that day emotionally rewarding for the reader. Then he goes back and decides that he doesn’t care if he completely messes up his life as Flip because it’s not his life anyways. I would expect him to make deeper discoveries about himself and about Flip, but instead he just feels picked on. The fact that his soul is supposedly determined enough to survive that it is one of the very few souls that experience this sort of thing makes us assume that Alex would have some type of intriguing quality that would show up in the book, but he seems quite normal, boring even.We have an especially fascinating turn of events with the introduction of another soul-switcher, Rob, and all these really intense moments that seem to be building up to something completely unexpected, but all we end up with is Alex as Flip punching something or knocking something over or fighting with his parents. Alex, as a typical teenage boy, still views himself as indestructible and ends up treating Rob like another authority figure, essentially ignoring all of the advice Rob gives him. Alex also tries to warm up to Flip’s sister and manages to befriend her somewhat out of guilt about how he used to treat his younger brother, but he is still disrespectful to Flip’s parents, which doesn’t make sense, given his regrets with his own family that he left behind.Another almost in this book is Alex as Flip’s relationship with Chaeri. This was probably the biggest disappointment in the book, because it could be so much more. There is so much hinted at with her but we never really find out who she is or why exactly Alex is attracted to her. At most we learn that she is someone Flip would never be attracted to, but perhaps only because his friends don’t approve. Of course, we never learn enough about her to know. This seemed like a perfect opportunity for some type of romance action, or perhaps some deeper questions answered, but that’s not the case. In fact, this book asks a lot more questions than it answers. Meant to be thought-provoking, that’s a great idea, but since the book doesn’t follow through with any believability aspect, we just end up with a large but final “almost”.Notable Scene:“You think I should’ve made an appointment?”Alex gave a nervous laugh. “Teri reckoned you were stalking me.”Rob’s smile didn’t slip. “Hey, if I was a stalker, you couldn’t have made it easier for me, posting so much personal info on the Web site.” He was sitting sideways to Alex, looking him full in the face, one arm resting on the back of the bench. His elbow, Alex noticed, was skuzzy with eczema. Serious now, he said quietly, “I had to see for myself. See if you were for real . . . or just some hoaxer, like the others said.”“And you think I am? For real, I mean.”Rob nodded. “You can always recognize another PE.”“How?”“Mate, you just look so bloody lonely in there.”FTC Advisory: Wendy Lamb Books/Random House provided me with a copy of Flip. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

This was a fantastic and fast-paced YA thriller! The book is written from Alex's perspective, so one easily feels for his character. Poor nerdy Alex is stuck in quite the conundrum and you wonder how/if he will ever get back to his own life. The suspenseful plot kept me turning the pages, I swear I finished it in a blink! Yet the book also causes many thought-provoking questions to arise. How much of who you are is your memories vs. what others expect of you? Especially pertinent to young adults is: which is better, being popular or being yourself? Flip is Martyn Bedford's first foray into the young adult genre and I think he should definitely write more YA lit! This is a story of friendship, life and identity with many plot twists and turns - I absolutely recommend this tightly paced book!

Alex Gray is a pretty average teen . . . until the day he wakes up in someone else's body. Suddenly, he is caught in the life of Philip "Flip" Garamond, a popular and athletic boy. Flip and Alex have very little in common . . . except that they were born on the same day. Alex struggles with all of the problems one might expect to encounter: trying to find his way around a strange place and deal with people who know Flip and can't understand why he's acting so strangely all of a sudden, as well as trying to figure out what has happened to him. What has happened to Alex? Is Flip's mind now caught in Alex's body? Perhaps most importantly, can Alex be flipped back, or will he be stuck in a stranger's life forever?This was a good, thoughtful read. Though the cover doesn't do anything for me, I was quickly drawn into the story once I started reading.

A good read, well suited to male Y9 less able readers, because of : the strong male characters; the highly debateable philosophocal points, viz what is life/death?, what is a soul?, what is science fiction?; some gross-out bodiliy function stuff; the dating issues/first love/first lust.

If any of you are 70’s movie buffs, you might remember the award-nominated film “Heaven Can Wait” with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, which was a remake of the 1941 classic “Here Comes Mr. Jordan.” In the 1978 movie, a Los Angeles Rams quarterback is accidentally taken away from his body by an over-anxious angel before he was supposed to die. Therefore the angel puts him in the body of someone else so he can finish out his life.Flip could be considered a YA version of that story, in which 14-1/2 year old Alex Gray wakes up one day to find himself inside the body of Philip “Flip” Garamond. The only problem is, the body of Alex isn’t quite dead yet – he is in a coma after a car accident. In this case, an angel is not the cause of the soul switch; rather, it is the result of a phenomenon that supposedly occasionally occurs after death called “psychic evacuation” or PE. It seems so hard for Alex to believe and yet, he muses, if souls can go to heaven, why couldn't they go somewhere else? Alex/Flip feels so lonely and alienated until he finds a website for other PE victims that offers support:"For evacuated psyches, it can be a hard, lonely world out thee, where no one believes or understand what we’ve been through and will go through for the rest of our new existences. To live out your days in corporeal exile is a bewildering journey of loss and grief for what you’ve had to leave behind, combined with alienation from what you’ve become. You’ve been ripped from your body your old life, your loved ones, and thrust into someone else’s. Not to mention the guilt you’re bound to feel over the soul that has been cast aside to make way for yours.”For most PEs, there is no way back. But Alex’s evacuation was a mistake because his body is not yet dead. Can he figure out how to reverse the process? Evaluation: I love the Warren Beatty movie, and this YA and modernized adaptation also works well, with Flip’s friends struggling to figure out why Flip is acting so unlike himself. This is a fast-paced and heart-warming story you won’t want to put down until you finish.

After waking up one morning in another boy's body, Alex struggles to orient himself in this new, different life and tries to find a way back to himself.This was a surprisingly smart story, taking an earnest look at the meaning of "self." I particularly liked the richness of the other characters; throughout the story, you're aware of how Alex's dilemma affects the people in Philip's life, and at the end, I'm left caring about their futures as well.Kalajzic does a generally good job performing, and I can tell he worked pretty hard on the accents. He had some frequent cadence problems, making many of the sentences sound off, somehow.

** spoiler alert ** Alex is running home from a friend's house one night to make it back before curfew and the next thing he remembers is waking up… but everything is wrong… the room, the people, and HIS body; and six months seems to have flown by. Not sure what is going on Alex soon comes to realize that everyone believes him to be Philip - aka - Flip. In an unknown body in an unknown place Alex's world is torn apart. Trying to find someone to believe his real identity is impossible and on top of that he is expected to get used to a body and friends that aren't his. Fast paced and filled with mental twists and turns Flip is a brilliant read. The plot was often heart wrenching, but I really enjoyed it. The characterization was great and I easily connected with Alex. I think the reactions from those around him were realistic and the entire situation felt real. The pace of the story was perfect and kept you questioning and wondering until the end. I was happy with the ending, yet wanted the story to continue because I was not ready to say goodbye. Flip was a great read that I recommend; make sure to read it when it comes out in April!

Few words can describe Flip with justice, so I am not going to try. Taken from the inside jacket flap: One morning fourteen-year-old Alex wakes up to find himself in the wrong bedroom, in an unfamiliar house, in a different part of the country. Six months have disappeared overnight. The family at the breakfast table? Total strangers.This will undoubtedly be the shortest review I will ever have the privilege of writing. Whatever the top prize is each year for young adult literature, Martyn Bedford has written the year’s unquestionable winner. His writing, brilliant and captivating, is the reason I read and review whatever comes my way. It is the golden nugget. These pages will stick to your fingers, begging to be turned, until all that is left are blank fillers. Your mind will not let go, even then. I am stunned – at what I just now finished reading. It is purely magic to be led down an unfamiliar and unbelievable path, and find one’s self believing to the end.Bravo!note: received from publisher